


Boarding school

by pokeranger21



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Boarding School, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:35:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23504698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pokeranger21/pseuds/pokeranger21
Summary: a side story of 'liesorlife's' story "being Gordon Tracy"what if jeff did decide to send Gordon to a boarding school after all?
Comments: 25
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [liesorlife](https://archiveofourown.org/users/liesorlife/gifts).



Jeff was at a loss of what to do. in order for Gordon to go back to school, he'll have to hit him. But he can't do that. Not to his squid or any of his children. The second option is to send him to another school but it's too far away and Scott refuses to get his license. the third is to send him away to a boarding school which is also a bad idea. He decided to talk to his mother making sure that none of his sons will overhear.   
"what can I do mum? I can't hit him"   
"it's the only way he can go back to school Jeff and he needs to learn some discipline," Grandma said as she sent two mugs of tea on the table  
"but he just recovered from being hit by a car, I won't do it," Jeff said determinedly   
"well then, what are you going to do? If you send him to that other school he needs to be driven, and neither I or you have the time and Scott won't take his drivers test" grandma said taking a sip of her tea.  
"I know. I know. And if he takes the bus he'll need to take at least three! the only option is sending off to a boarding school"  
"it's not the end of the world Jeff," she said placing her hand on his  
"I know, but after what happened to lucy and almost losing Gordon, I...I can't" he said burying his face in his hands  
"neither do I. And I'm sure his brothers will also disagree, but it's the only option"  
"ok, I'll go make some calls"   
*the next morning*  
The five Tracy brothers plus their father and grandma sat at the table eating breakfast, Scott, Virgil and John being in their uniforms as they had school and Gordon and Alan in their pajamas as Alan was too young and Gordon was expelled. Jeff decided to wait until after everyone was done eating before making his announcement.   
"boys, I have an announcement to make," he said in a serious voice and all the boys immediately paid attention. "due to Gordon getting expelled and the school refusing to take him back, starting next week Gordon will be attending a boarding school" immediately the table exploded with reactions.   
"dad you can't!"  
"no dad, I won't let you!"  
"about time"   
"ENOUGH!" jeff yelled silencing all the boys "I know you're upset, but it's the only option"  
"No dad, don't send him away. I'll take my damn driving test and get my license and I'll drive him to that other school. just don't send him away!" Scott pleaded  
"too late Scott, I made the calls already. On Monday morning, I'll drive him to his new school" suddenly a chair fell to the floor, everyone looked and saw that Gordon was no longer in his seat and heard his bedroom door slam.   
"I'll go make sure he's ok," Virgil said and left the room before anyone could stop him, he paused outside Gordon's room and heard him sobbing through the closed door. He knocked before slowly entering. "hey squid, can I come in?" Gordon's head was buried in his pillow, he nodded. Virgil went in and sat beside him, cuddling him until he stopped crying.   
"Virgil, does daddy hate me?" Gordon mumbled into his shirt which was now soaked with tears, not that Virgil cared anyway.  
"he loves you Gordon, he's just being...I don't know" Virgil said hugging his little brother tight and not wanting to let him go.


	2. Chapter 2

Gordon had the worst weekend of his life, he spent it packing his belongings into boxes ready for him to take to his new school on Monday. Virgil and Scott helped him as it was the last time they could spend time with him for a long time. John seemed to think that he deserved it and Alan was too young to understand, he picked up the plush squid his mum got him before she died and held it close.  
"hey, squid" Virgil said gently, "you gonna take that one with you?" Gordon nodded his head  
"what about his one?" Scott held out the dolphin that his dad got him, he shook his head and Scott placed it back at the end of his bed. Virgil finished packing the last box and taped it shut.  
"and that's the last of it," he said sadly as he looked around the room. Most of Gordon's stuff was in boxes but some of it still remained, his bed, his wardrobe, and the memories he had sleeping in here after their mother died. They picked up the boxes and carried them downstairs to the car for tomorrow. Gordon sat down on his bed hugging his squid tightly. Why was it him that was being sent away? to be honest, he'd rather be hit by a car again! he didn't notice when Virgil came back upstairs and pulled him into a hug. Dinner was a tense affair, with neither Scott, Virgil or Gordon talking to their father, John smirking and Alan playing with his food. Later while Gordon had his bath, Scott met Virgil in his room.  
"what is dad thinking! he's tearing this family apart!" Virgil said as he paced around his room  
"I don't know," Scott said, his eyes on leaving the window he was leaning against  
"and worst of all John's on his side! what happened to sticking together!" Virgil punched the wall in anger, luckily he didn't make a dent "it's going to be ages before we can see him again!" Scott finally left the window and comforted his younger brother.  
"I know Virg, I know"  
"you know how his friends felt?! I've never seen kids more upset and we have Alan!" Virgil turned around to face him, his eyes swarming with anger and unshed tears "they said that they're going to pull every prank they can think of on the principle in Gordon's honor and don't care about getting in trouble. and I don't blame them" Scott said nothing and pulled his brother in for a hug, Virgil finally let his tears flow, crying into Scott's shirt. It was his favorite but Scott didn't care, he silently cried with his younger brother while rubbing soothing circles on his back. Eventually, Virgil stopped crying and stepped back.  
"Thanks Scott" Virgil said, his eyes red from the tears, he wiped his nose with his arm "I recon the squid's done with his bath now" he left the room and Scott collapsed to the floor. He couldn't lose one of his brothers, visions swarming his head of what could happen when Gordon was away. what if he got kidnapped? what if he ran away again? what if he got hit by a car again? what if he gets bullied? who'll stand up for him? what if he got sick? what if he forgot about them? so many possibilities and Scott couldn't stop thinking about them once he starting and the list kept growing. what if he had a nightmare? what if he missed them? what if..." what if...? 

Virgil walked down the hallway into Gordon's room, he was about to enter when he heard his grandma's voice floating from the door. "I'm sorry Gordon, but this is the only choice. please try and behave" soon he saw her shadow as she walked towards the door, he stayed hidden in the shadows and watched as she went down the other way before entering his little brother's room. The next day, both Virgil and Scott didn't want to go to school and go with their dad to drop Gordon off. John didn't want to ruin his perfect attendance record and Alan...took a nap. All three brothers did not have a good night's sleep and didn't say anything as they watched the trees and buildings flash by. Gordon was wedged between his two brothers clinging onto his squid, not saying a word, eventually, after 2 hours (but felt like 2 seconds), they arrived at a large building that had several other buildings that were slightly smaller than it, a woman who looked like she was in her late 40s greeted them. "Hi and welcome to Warton boarding school (I know it's the school that Alan went to but just deal with it), I'm Sophie baker are you Gordon Tracy?" Gordon shyly nodded "I'm going to take you to your dorm now, you'll be sharing with another boy who is also joining today." Slowly the Tracy boys followed her, Virgil's hand never left Gordon's. Soon they came to a building that was painted light blue and had pictures of fishes on it and a square that had C on it. "you'll be in the C dorm (get it?), most of the kids will be around your age" she walked over to a boy who was wearing the uniform which consisted of a white shirt with a dark blue tie and blazer, black pants, white socks, and black shoes. Virgil remembered as he went with his father and Gordon to get his uniform fitted during the weekend, "this is Jack Wilson, all new students gets an older student as a mentor, whenever you need help, Jack will be glad to help". Jack had brown hair and green eyes, he was about the same height as Scott and had a 'school committee badge' on his blazer. "nice to meet you Gordon" he said with an Australian accent "I know what it's like to suddenly brought to a boarding school. My dad got moved around a lot and family had to move with him eventually, my parents decided to send me here so I can have a steady education. any questions and I'll be glad to help" 'he seems nice' Virgil thought as they made their way into the dorm, it was fairly nice. clean wall, clean hallway, stairs, trashcans, computer lab. "here we are, room 246. I'm sure you'll enjoy it" Sophie said as she used her handprint to open the door "you will enter your handprint here later" the room was fairly simple. had yellow walls, two beds, two desks, and two wardrobes.

Gordon gazed around the room, his older brothers slowly brought in his things, not complaining at all. When it was time to leave Virgil found himself not letting go as he hugged his brother goodbye, eventually Scott managed to separate him from Gordon and pushed him out of the room, Sophie and jack also left leaving Gordon all alone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gordon meets his new roommate

Gordon slowly unpacked his things, he had just finished putting his clothes in the closet and started to unpack his books, but he stopped when he saw the first book. Harry Potter. He picked it up and stared at it, memories rushing through his head of him and Virgil reading it together, suddenly the door opened and Sophie along with Jack and another boy who Gordon assumed was his roommate.  
"Gordon this is Joel Spencer, he's your roommate." Joel had brown curly hair, lightly tanned skin and greyish-blue eyes. He looked around the same age as Gordon, he looked around the room and walked over to the second bed. "In an hour it'll be lunchtime and then we'll give you a tour of the school" and with that Sophie and Jack left and Joel's parents brought his stuff in, said goodbye and left.  
"so, what are you in for?" Joel asked him  
"what do you mean?" Gordon asked him  
"as in, because your parents work aboard? that's usually the case."  
"no, I'm here because I got expelled from my old school because my principle had no sense of humor and this is the closest school."  
"you got expelled?! so did I!" Joel exclaimed and Gordon was taken back, he was expecting for him to laugh but not this. "what'd you do?"  
"put a flock of sheep in the teacher's lounge" Gordon replied casually  
"AWESOME! I let loose a flock of pigeons I trained to poop on my principle" Gordon soon cracked up and Joel along with him. "so, you doing to do any pranking while you're here?"  
"of course! what to help?" Gordon asked and held out his hand which Joel enthusiastically grabbed.  
"partners?"  
"partners" they then began to talk about previous pranks they've done and how much trouble they got into.  
"so, what's your family like?" Joel asked  
"well, it' my dad, my grandma, my brothers and me," Gordon said, hoping he wouldn't be asked about his mother  
"that's nice, me it's me, my dad, mum, and grandpa. Question, how many brothers do you have?"  
"4, three older and one younger"  
"Ohh, sounds tough"  
"It is, but it's fun. so when should we pull the first prank?"  
"When we have our first victim" suddenly jack came back and told them lunch was ready. He showed them the cafeteria which was a white building with at least three floors.  
"The juniors have the first floor, the middle schoolers second floor and seniors top floor" Jack explained "but today, I'll be eating with you just so you can ask me questions about the school"  
There were lots of kids in uniform eating lunch, they got in line and choose their lunch. Gordon choose fish fingers and chips, Joel got mac n cheese, Jack got a burger and fries, they found a table and sat down to eat.  
"so many questions?," Jack asked before taking a bite out of his burger.  
"do you have a pool here?" Gordon asked he brought his swim trunks just in case.  
"Yeah, we have a swim team and we do completions every year, and that reminds me. You have to choose a sport to do, there's swimming, soccer, basketball, table tennis, cricket, football and many more. Hopefully, you'll do the fighting dragons, (that's out mascot), proud"  
"how many hours of school will we have?" Joel asked  
"about 8 hours, so a normal day of school"  
"what's the principle like?" Gordon asked and he and Joel shared a look if the principle was bad, then they'll be at the top of their victim's list.  
"Ms Duncan's pretty nice, bit strict but she's cool"

After lunch, Jack showed Gordon and Joel around the school, they went around the football field, the running track, the sport's center, the computer lab, the staff room, the pool, classrooms while answering any questions the boys had, eventually, they arrived back at C block.  
"now if you have any concerns or questions, I'm in G block. you guys will be getting your schedules tomorrow" Jack said before leaving the two boys back in their room to continue unpacking.  
"This seems like a nice school," Joel said as he unpacked his clothes  
"yeah, it's pretty big though," Gordon said as he continued to unpack the rest of his stuff, he put the empty boxes away in his closet so they wouldn't be in the way and got to his last one which he packed with his pranking stuff, he looked around for a place to hide it.  
"what are you doing?" Joel asked from where he was putting his uniform out  
"looking for a place to all my pranking stuff," Gordon said, he managed to find some loose boards from the floor and hid the box in there. He then got out his uniform and hung it on the hook that was attached to the outside of the closet door.

"what's it like to have siblings?" Joel asked and Gordon's head whipped around "I've never had siblings before and my parents say I might get one one day"   
"well," Gordon said and went to his bed so he was facing Joel "it's hard to say as many people have different opinions, but usually there's a bond between sibling but it's different for everyone. such as; John who is closest to my age, we're completely different and we don't get along well, then there's Scott who the oldest but we're also pretty far apart, Virgil who's the second oldest is the one I'm closest to, he's always there for me, and Alan is still a bit young for me to decide but I usually play with him. But siblings can also be annoying. older ones especially because they think they're older they sometimes think they can boss you around and the younger ones steal your stuff but they also look up to you to see how to navigate life"  
"I'll remember that thanks" Joel smiled at Gordon which he returned, glad to give someone advice for a change. Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Joel opened the door to reveal a young woman with autumn brown hair and blue eyes.  
"Hi, I'm Ms Peters and I'm in charge of your block, it's dinner time" the boys followed her as she led them to the dining hall. after the dinner the boys had to get ready for bed as 8:30 was lights out, they continued talking about their families and what pranks they could pull until Ms Peters told them to go to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gordon's first day at boarding school

A loud bell woke Gordon up from his slumber, for once he was grateful to be waken up. He had the same dream he had been having for the past few months about the car. Gordon and Joel got dressed for the day, they were about to put their ties on when they realized they had no idea how to tie a tie. Luckily Ms. Jackson knocked on the door and entered and helped them. Gordon felt like he was choking, she then handed them their schedules for the year. Luckily they were in the same class so they left to have breakfast. In the dining hall they sat with other kids from their dorm and met a few other kids who liked to play pranks, they decided to work together and they already had a victim in mind. The school bully Charles Patterson, apparently he hated spicy food and Gordon already had a few ideas about how to prank him. Soon they had to go to class and apparently they were all in the same class. Gordon felt happy that he managed to make friends who also loved to prank, but it made him think of his old friends which made him sad.  
"good morning students, my name is Ms. Glover and I'm your homeroom teacher for this year. I'll also be teaching you English. I would also like to introduce some new students; Gordon Tracy and Joel spencer" Gordon and Joel waved at their new classmates and then they began the lesson, all the school supplies were already there provided by the school so they didn't have to buy anything. after English, they had math, Geography, Art and social studies. "man, this is exhausting" Joel moaned as they sat down at a table for lunch "you get used to it," Connie James told him, she was one of their new friends. She had copper hair with green eyes and fair skin, she was also a single child whose parents worked a lot so she resorted to pranking to get their attention and found that she loved it. Eventually, her parents got tired of it and sent her here. "yeah" Ethan Byrne added, he was the tallest in the group with brown hair and blue eyes and bronze skin. His parents got moved around a lot so he was here now but had a love for pranks. Gordon and Joel smiled at their new friends and continued to talk about previous pranks they pulled, eventually, lunch was over and it was time for their last class of the day which was history. Once the final bell rang, they made their way toward their rooms and do homework, Gordon collapsed on his bed, hurrying his face in his hands. "man, that felt like the longest day in my life" across from in, Joel moaned in agreement "so," Joel said sitting up "how should we prank Charles Patterson?" Suddenly the computer in their room pinged, they glanced at each other. 'that wasn't there earlier' they thought and made their way over to the desk. Someone was trying to call them from room '204 and 213' they clicked answer and the faces of their friends greeted them. "hey, guys!" Rufus Clark greeted them, he was another one of their friends, he had short black and dark blue eyes and yellow skin and had a love for pranking. "This wasn't here this morning," Gordon said in confusion "yeah, every dorm gets one after the students arrive" Martha Bryne explained, she was the twin sister of Ethan and looked a lot like him except she had long hair and green eyes. "so the school has this website where you can call or chat with other people" "yeah, so anyways how are going to prank Charles?" Joel asked "Ohh, we can put a chili in his breakfast burrito!" Ethan suggested "yeah, but we need something more," Connie said and they began to think "I got it!" Gordon exclaimed and got his box of prank stuff from where he hid it. "What?" they all asked, Gordon, didn't answer straight away and reached for his wrench that he *borrowed* from the school's janitor. "what do you guys know about plumbing?" he turned towards them with a mischievous grin.


	5. Chapter 5

"That was awesome!" Joel exclaimed as they walked to their first class of the day, everyone nodded all around the people were talking about how Christopher embarrassed himself during breakfast.  
*earlier*  
During the night, Gordon and his friends snuck into the food hall and the drinking tap so when they pressed a button, it would release hot sauce instead of water and they glued the sides so he couldn't get free. In the morning, they walked past Christopher's table, where he purposely tripped Gordon and ordered him to get him a breakfast burrito. As everyone was afraid of Christopher as he was always surrounded by his goons so everyone always did as he asked, so he got him the breakfast burrito but snuck in an extra hot chili in and served it to him. Gordon then walked to his table where Joel had got him breakfast, he had just taken a bite of his toast when suddenly... "HOT!!! HOT!! WATER! WATER!" everyone turned to see Christopher red in the face and holding his burrito and running towards the water fountain yelling his head off, but Connie pressed the button before he could reach the fountain, not that anyone was paying attention to them as they were busy staring at Christopher.  
"AAAARRRGGGHH! WHO PUT HOT SAUCE IN THE FOUNTAIN???!!!!!" he tried to get away, but found his hands stuck "I'M STUCK!!!!" he yelled, he turned to his friends who were trying but failing not to laugh  
"DON'T JUST STAND THERE! HELP ME!!" quickly they stopped laughing and tried to get him free, by this time, the middle and seniors had climbed down to see what the commotion was about and joined in with the laughing, including the lunch ladies and even the teachers were silently laughing, although the tried not to show it, Gordon was a master at recognizing these things. Eventually Christopher managed to get free and was taken to the nurse's office, suddenly the principle decided she had enough.  
"Stop laughing!" she yelled and immediately everyone stopped laughing "when I find out who did this, they will be in serious trouble!" she glanced at all the students furiously before walking out just as the bell rang and everyone made their way to class.  
"you've got quite the knack for plumbing Gordon," Ethan said, "where'd you learn all that?"  
"when you have 4 brothers one of which is younger than you, you pick up all this stuff. Plus I've spent a while with my head in a toilet seat during summer school" Gordon replied with a small shiver  
"Good thing we got the glue from the art room, I didn't realize it was in my bag, so they can't trace it to us," Martha said and the others agreed and entered their classroom where it was full of chatter.  
"settle down students!" Ms. glover said to the class "I know we've had an interesting morning (Gordon and his friends smirked) but it's time to begin lessons" she began to take the roll  
"so, who should we prank next?" Rufus whispered, they were all sitting close to each other "ms Ducan?"  
"Nah, not yet" Gordon whispered back, "she's still on edge and I've learned from experience, don't prank a principle that's on edge. don't ask"  
"how about Mr. Harkson?" Joel whispered "here," he said when his name was called  
"you mean our math and science teacher?" Martha clarified, "here! anyway why him?"  
"I don't know, his eyes creep me out and his voice like it sounds like he's hiding something, plus he wears a black suit and he has a sinister smile"  
"and I don't know if it's just me, but when he looked at me, it looked he it was with pure hatred, plus he seemed to call me out! and it was only the first day!" Gordon whispered back after replying to the teacher when his name was called.  
"Okay then, so we don't have a victim yet," Connie said as the bell rang and they made their way to class.  
"don't worry guys, I'm sure we'll find our next victim soon" Gordon reassured them as they started to learn about the amazing world of something, Gordon didn't know as he wasn't paying attention. Instead, he was thinking about who they could prank next and why Mr Harkson seemed to hate him.  
Soon it was lunchtime, but the drama from the morning was still present, everyone in the junior level was talking about who humiliated the meanest person in the school. "I swear, that was the best prank I ever pulled!" Connie exclaimed and Gordon couldn't help but let out a snort, catching their attention. "Sorry, but I've done way better things than this," he said "oh yeah? like what?" Joel challenged "ever put a flock of sheep in the teacher's lounge? or glitter bombed the principle's car?" "or, trained a bunch of pigeons to poop on the principle? on command?" Joel added none of them said a word "okay, that does sound way better!" Martha said and the rest agreed "yeah, the only problem is we got expelled because our old principles had no sense of humor," Gordon said biting into his burger "ouch" Rufus winced, Gordon and Joel nodded and continued to eat their lunch "hey, a glitter bomb is a great idea to prank Mr. Harkson. " "yeah, one problem: how are we going to get one?" "easy, we make one," Gordon said as if was obvious "seriously?!" everyone exclaimed "Yeah, I've made tons, they're super easy to make" and they began to plan 

So the next day after breakfast (Christopher avoided the breastfast burritos and drinking fountain) they went to Mr. Harkson's class and waited for him to arrive. as usual, he was late so that gave them plenty of time to get the prank set up. When they arrived there were 3 other students in there, but they were in there because they got detention and Mr. Harson's class was the detention room. plus they were seniors so they didn't disturb them as they placed the glitter bomb in the top drawer. Soon the bell rang and they walked to their homeroom and the seniors wished them good luck, once they entered the classroom, they waited anxiously for Mr.Harkson to arrive. they didn't have to wait long, he walked over to his desk and opened the top drawer to but his bag in there but instead, he got a faceful of glitter. Everyone exploded in laughter as he spat out the glitter, he glared at them but considering he was covered in glitter no one took him seriously, eventually the teacher from the room next door came in to see what the commotion was about and was very shocked to find him covered in glitter.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> back to the tracy house!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the hot chili and hot sauce in the fountain in the last chapter, those were inspired from an episode of 'the thundermans'

Virgil couldn't deny that the house was a whole lot quieter without Gordon around, that didn't mean he liked it. There was an empty seat at the table whenever the family ate together, there was no one to wait for after school was finished because he got detention. It was like there was a hole in the house that couldn't be filled. gordon's friends true to their word pulled out every prank they could think of; filling the principle's office with helium, putting a skunk in the teacher's lounge, putting dye in the sprinklers and then setting it off. John came home very miserable that day, upset that his usually clean uniform was instead a pix of colors. at least alan loved it and so did Virgil, he kept his own shirt vowing to never wash it as it was very artistic. But the pranks made him sad as he missed the days when Gordon would come running up to him, giggling and said "quickly Virg, hide me!" and the hid behind his brother until a teacher dragged away to detention; so the day after the sprinkler incident, Virgil found himself in Gordon's room staring into space until Scott joined him.  
"you miss him don't you?"  
"How could I not Scott? he would come into my room 3 times a week to read harry potter, even though I was doing my homework! Sometimes I still expect him to crash into my room and demand Harry potter" Virgil started to cry, he had been doing a lot for the past few weeks and he didn't care if anyone saw him, Scott wrapped his arms around him. However, all thoughts about Gordon were pushed from their minds when they heard their father had crashed his ship and was missing. All they wanted to do was be with him, they didn't have time for any thoughts about telling Gordon. When they did find him, guilt-filled Virgil as he realized that they never told Gordon about this and if they hadn't found their father his little brother would have never known! When his father called a family meeting it felt weird without Gordon there making jokes or complaining when his father announced that he was setting up a rescue business and that they were going to move to an island he couldn't help but blurt out "what about Gordon?"  
"we'll tell him when he comes home for the holidays in a few months" his father replied  
"but that's unfair! he's gonna feel left out because we knew about this before him!" Scott protested and Virgil was glad one of his brothers was on his side  
"I know, but there's no other way to tell him," Jeff said sadly and that was the end of the discussion. Virgil felt guilty for the next few weeks because of how Gordon would feel about being left out on a secret.

Virgil went to school the next day excited as he had art and he was working on a family portrait he was going to give to Gordon when Billy came running up to him  
"hi Virgil!" he greeted him "have you heard from Gordon?"  
"Unfortunately no, the school wants the students to focus on studying, but he'll be back for the holidays" Virgil explained but then saw the mischievous look replace Billy's sad one, he had come to recognize that look as Gordon wore it a lot "what are planning?" he asked suspiciously raising his eyebrow.  
"Nothing," Billy said innocently "but if I were you, I would avoid sitting on the wooden chairs and avoid the textbooks" Billy then ran off leaving Virgil standing there. He shook his head, deciding not to question it, but for his own sake, decided to follow Billy's advice and avoided the wooden chairs, he went to his first class and took a seat, the teacher arrived and walked to her desk. She opened the top drawer to put her stuff in there but screamed, a few students ran to the desk and cried out in disgust, the others joined in a to Virgil's surprise and disgust he saw termites eating away at the desk!  
'so that's what they were planning' Virgil thought, biting his lip so he wouldn't laugh, through the walls they could hear the teacher next door also screaming and soon the hallways were filled with the teachers' screaming. They evacuated all the students and decided to send them home, the school then called an exterminator, everyone was happy to get out of class and go home; well everyone except for John.  
"I can't believe this!" he mumbled as they waited for grandma to pick them up "I had a test today and I studied for it was well!" Virgil shrugged, he didn't really mind. soon they saw their grandma's car come round the corner and climbed in, and John mumbled the whole journey, they had to make a stop at the shops first though.  
"that's enough John," grandma said firmly "it was only a harmless prank"  
"it wasn't harmless!" John protested as she parked the car "someone could have gotten hurt!"  
"come on the john, you have to admit, it was pretty funny!" Virgil encouraged his brother, John rolled his eyes as he unbuckled his younger brother who was laughing his head off, they got a trolly and went around the aisles, looking for what they needed, when they arrived home, to their surprise they found Scott's car parked out front, grandma parked behind Scott and entered the house.  
"Scott?" she called and Scott peeked his head around the corner  
"Hey guys" he greeted them before helping to carry the groceries  
"what are you doing here?" Virgil asked his brother  
"same reason you are. termites" Scott explained as he placed the bag on the dining table and started to unpack  
"you had termites too?" Virgil was shocked, Billy and his friends had also infiltrated the high school, in a weird way, he was impressed!  
"no," Scott said rolling his eyes, "they said your school had an investigation of termites and alerted other schools just to make sure, so they sent us home while the exterminators do their thing"


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's time for holidays!

Gordon finished packing his backpack, he was only taking some clothes and his harry potter book, after many months of torture he was finally going to see his family again. Joel was also excited about seeing his family again saying that his family had some exciting news to tell him. they then walked out of their room, saying goodbye to their dorm mates and walked to the front gate where many families were waiting, Joel saw his family at one end, and Gordon saw his at the other. After wishing each other goodbye they separated, Gordon ran and threw himself into Virgil's awaiting arms, glad to be with his favorite brother again.  
"Virgy! I missed you!" he said nuzzling into his shirt  
"I missed you too squid!" Virgil laughed, not complaining about the nickname and squeezing him tightly, not wanting to let him go  
"What am I? dead meat?" Scott asked in mock hurt.  
"Scotty!" Gordon yelled wiggling himself out of Virgil's grip and throwing himself at him equally excited to see his oldest brother again "where's dad?" Scott ad Virgil shared a look over his head  
"sorry squid, he wanted to be here but...something came up. he'll back tomorrow though" Scott reassured his brother and ruffled his hair but Gordon frowned. did his dad no longer care about him and that's why he wasn't here now?  
"so, did you behave in school?" Virgil asked catching the look on his younger brother's face  
"maybe," Gordon said mischievously /> "I'll take that as a no" Scott said rolling his eyes and unlocking the car so they could go home on the way, they talked about what was going on back home and how Gordon was doing in class (not too many fails to his brothers' relief). when they got home, Gordon was immediately pulled into a hug by his grandma, once he got free a small blond blur crashed into him, sending him to the floor.  
"oof" he exclaimed as he fell "Gordy!!! you're back!!!!" alan yelled in a volume that was far too loud to be in the house, but grandma let it slide just this once.  
"yeah," Gordon said, ruffling his brother's hair affectionately "wow, you've grown. you're nearly as tall as me!" he said as he stood up with Alan still cling onto him, it was a lie, Alan was barely taller than his chest but Alan just giggled.  
"Yeah, I'm gonna be taller than you one day!"  
"only if you eat your vegetables" Scott said, pulling him off Gordon and carrying him upside down by his ankles over his shoulders and swinging him around "now, where's Johnny?"  
"he's doing his homework, I wanted to play with him and he told me to go away" Alan giggled as Scott swung him around  
"then I'll go talk to him then," Scott said and flopped him down on the couch leaving alan giggling as his brothers' joined him. Scott made his way to John's room and knocked on the door. "go away Alan" came the muffled reply "it's Scott" "oh, go away Scott" Scott rolled his eyes and entered the room, John was seating at his desk surrounded by books "whatever it is you want Scott, can it wait?" he said not looking up "sorry John, but wouldn't you like to see Gordon again?" John paused his writing, as much as he didn't like his misbehaving little brother, he couldn't deny that he missed him, he stood up and followed Scott to the living room where everyone else was gathered. "Johnny!" Gordon yelled and crashed into him, usually, John would groan at the nickname but he let it slide for his brother that he hadn't seen in ages he ruffled his hair "how are you squid?" he asked as they walked over to the couch. "I'm good, so, what else has been happening around here?" Gordon asked and the rest of the family shared looks at each other, except for alan who was busy reaching for a pillow that was behind him. they haven't told Gordon about the crash and it was obvious he didn't know about it either. "Nothing much, it was mostly quiet without you here," Scott said as it was true. the house was a whole lot quieter without Gordon around "what about dad? why didn't he want to pick me up?" luckily the rest of the family was saved from answering that question by Alan throwing a pillow at john's face. "hey!" John exclaimed pulling the pillow off his face and throwing it back, but it missed and hit Virgil instead "sorry Virgil, I was aiming for-" his sentence was cut off by Scott also throwing a pillow at him, soon the lounge was turned into a battlefield of flying pillows. Usually, grandma would have scolded them but she let it slide as Gordon was distracted from any questions about their father, and her grandsons had to start acting like brothers once again. soon the pillow throwing ceased leaving 5 panting brothers trying to catch their breath but with smiles on their faces. "can we watch a movie later?" Gordon asked his grandma "sure, why not. why don't you decide what movie and I'll start dinner" grandma said as she stood up and the brothers brought up their movie collection. "What should we watch?" Scott asked as he started to look through their movies "Dolphin tale!" Gordon declared "you mean the one about the injured dolphin?" Virgil clarified and Gordon nodded. Scott smiled and brought it up, glad to hear no complaints from his brothers. 'guess they really missed the squid' he thought "ooh, let's make a blanket fort!" "you mean like how we used to watch movies?" John said with a smile, he wasn't a big fan of them, but they hadn't made one in a long time, maybe now he'll enjoy it. "ok, why not? we have time while grandma cooking *burns* dinner" Virgil said and all 5 brothers worked together to gather blankets and pillows and soon their fort covered the entire living room, they just managed to finish pining the last two blankets together when their grandma called them, the walked into the dining room and to their surprise, their grandma had ordered them pizza. "a special dinner for a special occasion" she simply said as they tucked in, after dinner, they changed into their pajamas, made some popcorn, for snacks and got comfortable in the blanket fort and watched the movie, once it was finished they decided to watch another one, this time they let alan choose and he chose cars as he had been wanting to watch it for ages and they agreed. alan drifted off in the first 15 minutes with Gordon soon following snuggling up against Virgil. the older three smiled fondly at the two youngest Tracys and continued to watch the movie, but fell asleep before it ended, snuggling up against each other protectively. That's how jeff found them in the early hours of the morning when he returned


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, it's been a while since I last updated this. sorry for that

Jeff had driven straight from the airport and entered his quiet home, but to his surprise he found that a blanket fort had taken over the living room, peering inside he saw his 5 sons, snuggled up against each other with an empty bowl and the TV still on. He reached for the remote that was on an armrest and turned it off, he then made his way into the kitchen and began to make pancakes when he was soon joined by his mother.  
"Good to see you again Jeff, how was the flight?" she greeted him and kissed his cheek  
"it was good mother" he replied as he added eggs to the mixture "the island is coming along well. Did the boys behave last night?"  
"apart from a pillow fight, they were angels (almost)" she replied as she began to make toast, she turned and faced him with a sad look "they really missed Gordon Jeff"  
Meanwhile, inside the fort, Virgil opened his eyes and wondered why he wasn't in his room, he heard a snore next to him and saw Gordon clutching him tight and smiled as he remembered. Gordon came home yesterday and they watched movies and fell asleep, he looked around and saw his other brothers still asleep. He heard voices in the kitchen and smelled...pancakes! Apparently, he wasn't the only one, John suddenly woke up "pancakes" he said, he looked confused at seeing Virgil but he then remembered the slumber party the boys had last night.  
"wake up Scott and Alan, I'll wake up the squid," Virgil told him and Jon nodded, he shook Scott awake and after some mumbling he woke up and sat up, waking up alan in the process and he was sleeping on top of him. Virgil shook Gordon's shoulder "come on squid, time to wake up"  
"5 more minutes, the bell hasn't even gone yet" Gordon mumbled not letting go, Virgil slumped in defeat, what did he mean by bell? He suddenly had an idea, pulling out his phone, he went to the clock app and set an alarm to one minute from now, the then choose the bell sound and put the volume high. And it worked, the bell range loudly the brothers put their hands over their ears and glared at Virgil who looked at them in apology, but the bell worked. 5 seconds later Gordon sat up and said "I'm up!" he looked around confused, probably wondering where he was.  
"hey squid, good sleep?" Scott asked as Virgil turned off the alarm  
"yeah," he said yawning and standing up and exiting the fort and the others followed him to the kitchen where their grandma was setting out plates.  
"there you boys are," she said as she put a giant plate of burnt pancakes in the centre of the table "your dad made pancakes, he's in the shower at the moment but he'll be out soon. Good sleep?"  
"yeah" John mumbled as he sat down and the others joining him, Gordon looking a bit uncomfortable "something wrong squid"? he asked  
"not really, just weird sitting in a chair again to eat, usually we sit on benches," Gordon said shuffling around in his seat, Virgil looked at him symphathically  
"don' worry, it's only for two weeks" Virgil suddenly froze, two weeks wasn't long to spend with Gordon before school started again, they would have to make the most of it not to mention they had also missed Gordon's birthday while he was at school so they also had to celebrate that too. "now then," grandma said as she put the maple syrup on the table "why did I hear a bell?"  
"it was to wake Gordon up" Virgil explained  
"that's how they woke us up, and I guess I for used to it," Gordon said sheepishly

"it's ok Gordon, we just weren't expecting it" John reassured his brother and they began to tuck in, trying to eat the rock-hard pancakes. They heard the bathroom door open and footsteps climbing down the stairs, their father reappeared wearing his favourite flamingo t-shirt  
"Daddy!" Gordon launched himself at his father and Alan also joined in, they piled on top of him while the others watched in amusement.

"hey squid, hey squirt," Jeff said laughing "good to see you again" eventually his sons climbed off him and he was able to stand up, he then swept Gordon up for a bone-crushing hug "good to see you again" he placed Gordon down and hugged Alan so he wouldn't feel jealous, then they sat down at the table to eat breakfast.  
"so Gordon, how's school?" Jeff asked his son once breakfast was finished "it's good, I've made lots of friends and my roommate's good too" Gordon answered as Virgil and Scott cleaned the table "not getting into too much trouble I hope?" "well...." Gordon trailed off and looked down, Jeff sighed and ran a hand through his hair, he should have expected this. "we'll talk about that later son. For now, we should celebrate your return, what should we do first?" "swimming!" Gordon yelled excitedly "of course" behind Jeff, the oldest three shared a look, knowing that Gordon would say that eventually. They all grabbed their swimming kits and piled into the car and drove off to the local swimming pool. "hey Gordy" an employee greeted him as he ran through the doors "haven't seen you here in ages" "daddy sent me away," Gordon said as the man ruffled his hair gently "he means that he went to boarding school" Virgil explained as the rest of them trooped inside "I see, well it's good to see you again Gordon" the employee waved goodbye to the family as he went off, once Jeff paid the fare for them to enter they walked inside and found a bench for them to keep their things, then they dived in to have some fun. a few hours later they climbed out to have lunch at the pool's cafe before jumping back in again. once they managed to convince Gordon that it was time to leave they picked up MacDonalds on the way home and had a quiet evening on the porch watching the sunset.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure how long school holidays go on for in America, I'm following the Australian system. 
> 
> Sorry if there's any confusion but i think that the story works better in this way. Also sue me, they had takeout two days in a row. Grandma doesn't care since Gordon is back plus; once my brother had takeout for breakfast, lunch and dinner in one day!


End file.
